Stepping Sideways
by EchoesofMemory
Summary: Ryn whacks her head and wakes up in the Max Steel reboot 'verse. What ever will she do? Includes shenanigans, references to Mary Sues as the devil, and waaay too much bad Spanish
1. In Which A Bump Leads Elsewhere

**Hey! Apparently I'm not busy enough. I decided that, since discovering the reboot of Max Steel, I'd write some self-insertish fanfic, as there is a remarkably small section for this show and its predecessor (sad).**

**So hear it is! The story that is marked, in my Drive, as 'The Ultra Rambly Story'! Hopefully it's not that rambly.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Max Steel, Max Steel (2013), Ultra-links, the universe I play in, or anything to do with this show. The only thing I own is my lovely little witchy OC and her two friends. :)**

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

I hummed, dancing around my admittedly small room. The house was near downtown Denver, close enough that I could take an hour bus ride and be at the 16th Street Mall.

I was getting ready to head out. It was Halloween, and my friends and I were all going as storybook characters to hand out candy to random people on the street. I had pulled Little Red Riding Hood, so I was wearing a black knee-length dress, white tights, and a blood red cloak. The dress had a poofy underskirt, to help me appear younger, like the actual Red Riding Hood. "Granny's Basket" was already full of a half-bag of assorted candies, and I had another bag and a half tucked in my shoulder bag.

I hopped over the dog gate, checking that I had everything - phone, wallet, sketchbook, candy, and my laptop, all packed and ready to go.

My best friends were already at the mall, as I had to work a late shift and set up for the first night of the full moon the next day and couldn't join them.

My phone rang and I dug it out.

"Where are you, _chica_? It's almost seven and you said you'd be here half an hour ago," Esperanza complained.

Esperanza was 18, a year older than me, and worked at her dad's company as his secretary. She had her own apartment, and shared with the third member of our trio, Genevieve. Esperanza was an inch or two taller than my five foot three, and showed her part Mexican descent.

"Sorry! Set up took longer than I thought it would, so I'm just now attempting to get out the door," I replied. "Harder to do when someone calls me!"

"Tell her to just put on her damn boots and get out here," I heard Genevieve grouse in the background.

Genevieve, Gen to her friends, was a short 19 year old of decidedly Irish descent. She also loved kickboxing and made Esperanza and I join her classes. She often joked that we were related, as I was a Pagan witch who followed some of the Celtic pantheon.

"These 'damn boots' are why I'll be able to walk tomorrow," I sniffed as I walked to the door and pulled them out of the shoe rack.

They were hella comfortable riding shoes, designed to slip on and make sure your feet didn't hate you after a long day. I loved them.

I slipped them on and told my friends I was on my way after I turned off the bathroom lights.

My phone went back in the special pocket in the cloak and I headed towards the bathroom, hopping over the gate. I tried to keep my lights off, as I wasn't paying the electric bill.

I clicked the bathroom light off and started for the door for the third time, only to freeze as the power went out.

"Dammit!" I groaned, fishing my phone out and turning on the light.

Storms had been on the forecast, but we all had been hoping it'd just be cloudy.

I groaned again and went to take a step forward, only to slip on something and crack my head on the edge of the gate.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

I winced as I woke up. I had a killer headache, and I dreaded opening my eyes.

"How much did I drink last night?" I sighed, twitching into a ball in an attempt to escape the nauseating pain.

"I don't know," a cheerful and half-familiar voice answered, "but it was enough you decided that a trip into the canyon was a good idea."

I cracked an eye open and hissed at the evil, evil light, flinching away and covering my head. "Ow."

"I can imagine," a new voice said dryly, half-familiar as well.

I carefully opened my eye and gingerly sat up when it didn't feel like someone was assaulting me with a two by four. There were three guys sitting at the foot of the bed I was on. Two looked young, one in a blue jacket, the other in a sleeveless lab coat over body armor. The third was older and had a chest plate with a crack near the left shoulder. Their appearances niggled something in my brain, but the blinding headache I had kept me from functioning anywhere near a normal human.

I did, however, catch one thing.

"Wait, canyon? There aren't any canyons near here…" I muttered to myself, attempting to rub the pain out of my head.

I nearly screamed as I hit a bump and my head exploded into a new wave of incapacitating pain. The three guys jumped as I let out a high-pitched whine and almost fell over.

"Are you alright?" the first speaker, lab-coat guy, asked anxiously, jumping forward to steady me.

I whimpered as the pain took its time subsiding. "No, no I am not, not at all, _dios mio_, ow, ow, owwww."

Blue Jacket shared a glance with Screwed-Up Body Armor, before stepping forward to point out some pain pills and a glass of water. "I'll go get an ice pack, I guess."

He left, leaving me with Lab Coat and Body Armor. I shakily reached for the water and the pain pills and swallowed the pills dry.

I sipped the water, waiting for my headache to quit hurting quite as much.

Lab Coat waited for me to set the water down before asking, "Can you tell us anything? Do you have amnesia?"

I gave him a weird look. "Why would I have amnesia?"

Body Armor answered. "Because you seem to have forgotten where we are. After all, we are near a canyon."

I snorted. "But there aren't any canyons _near_ Denver."

Lab Coat's eyes widened. "You think we're in Denver?"

I looked between him and Body Armor. "Um, yeah. I assumed I was in some sort of hospital."

"No, no you're not," Body Armor said heavily. "What's the last thing you remember?"

I tilted my head back, wincing slightly as my new bump twinged. "Well, I was getting ready to go hand out candy with Esperanza and Gen when Esperanza called. She wanted to know where I was, because I had agreed to meet with them at six thirty and it was almost seven. I told her set up for my spells took longer than I thought, and that I was heading out just then. I had to go back to turn off my bathroom light, and then there was a power outage. I slipped on something in the dark and hit my head on the dog gate. That's the last thing I remember."

They both stared at me as I looked around, remembering my phone. "Wait, where's my phone? I had it when I went down! Gen and Ran are probably freaking out, especially if I didn't show!"

I quickly patted my clothes down, freezing for a second when I saw that I was still Little Red, then continuing the search for my phone. I was still wearing my bag, so I slid it off to do a quick check. Everything was still there, so I continued my search.

When I didn't find it on my immediate person, I slid off the bed to continue looking.

Unfortunately, the change in position almost sent me to the ground, and only Lab Coat and Body Armor leaping to my rescue kept me from ending up as a heap on the ground.

"Maybe you should hold off on the walking," Lab Coat suggested wryly.

I grinned sheepishly. "Maybe."

I settle back and fluffed my cloak around me, accidentally smacking against the secret pocket. Instead of flowing like I thought it would, it showed a distinctly rectangular shape and I stared at it.

"My phone!" I yelped and pulled it out.

I sighed in relief at the unbroken screen of my Note II. A quick check revealed my stylus. I hit the power button on the side and swiped my passcode, frowning at the lack of messages.

"That's strange," I muttered. "Usually I get yelled at if I don't text one of them every hour…"

I called Esperanza first, tapping my foot impatiently against the leg of the bed as the phone rang.

Finally Ran picked up. "Hello?"

I grinned at her familiar voice. "Hey, Esperanza! Sorry about missing last night. I hit the dog gate."

"Who is this?"

I blinked. "Wait, what?"

"I'm sorry," my best friend of five years told me, "but I think you have the wrong number and the wrong Esperanza."

With that she hung up. I pulled my phone away from my ear and stared at it in shock.

"What the actual hell?"

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

"Um, I know you're upset, but could you please quit ignoring me?" Lab Coat tried to get my attention.

It had been half an hour since Esperanza told me she didn't know who I was. In that time, I had curled up and refused to acknowledge Lab Coat and Body Armor's increasingly frustrated attempts to get me to talk to them.

"Could you at least tell us your name?" Body Armor sighed. "Your family's probably worried about you."

I uncurled enough to glare at him. "My name is Kathryn Callaghan. Can I go back to wallowing in self pity now?"

Body Armor shrugged. "No. We need to know what you were doing outside in the canyon."

I sat up fully and threw my hands up. "I told you earlier! I don't know! I certainly don't know why my _best friend_ is pretending she knows me! More importantly, I don't even know where I am!"

"Copper Canyon," Lab Coat helpfully supplied.

I stopped and turned to him, fingers twitching. "_Not. Helpful._ Copper Canyon is a canyon in_ Mexico_ and a _small residential area in Texas._"

"No, we're in Copper Canyon, Arizona," Lab Coat corrected me.

I twitched, then pulled up Google Maps. "Funnily enough, Google Maps disagrees. See?"

With that, I held up my phone with the search results. It showed the results for the Copper Canyon in Mexico and the Copper Canyon in Texas, as well as various restaurants and streets with the same name.

Body Armor leaned in close and frowned. "Yeah, well, there's a Copper Canyon in Arizona, and that's where we are."

I facepalmed. "Whatever."

Just then, Blue Jacket stepped back through the door, holding the promised ice pack. "Why is it so hard to find one of these?"

I blinked at him, then gestured around me. "Med Bay. Most likely candidate for having ice packs."

He scowled. "Here."

I caught the gently tossed pack and gingerly pressed it to my bump, wincing at the flare of pain

before sighing at the relief. "Thank the gods."

Blue Jacket leaned against the wall by the door and joined the other two in watching me. "You're welcome."

I blinked at him. "Thank you. I'm Kathryn. My friends usually call me Ryn."

Lab Coat suddenly looked sheepish. "Oh, yeah. We didn't introduce ourselves. _Lo siento_."

I shrugged. "_Está bien. Como es su nombre_?"

He grinned at me. "_Estoy _Berto."

I couldn't help but smile back. "Hi, Berto. Nice to meet you."

Body Armor grunted. "I'm Commander Ferrus."

At that, my good cheer went straight to cold suspicion. "Uh huh."

I turned to Blue Jacket, my eyes gleaming. "Don't tell me. Your name is Max."

He looked stunned and nodded. I scowled.

"This is the worst joke I've ever heard."

I hopped off the bed, steadying myself and missing the stunned stupid looks on my three watchers' faces. I started pacing, ignoring the swish of my cloak.

"What are you talking about?" Body Armor, whom I refused to acknowledge as Forge Ferrus, asked me, confusion and distrust coloring his tone.

I flailed. "Copper Canyon, Berto, Ferrus, Max - this is ridiculous! Is this some sort of prank?!"

"What are you talking about?!" Max repeated, sounding incredibly confused.

I stopped and pointed at him. "There is _no way_ your name can be Max McGrath, because that is the name of a character of a _TV show_!"

Now all three looked confused. I sighed and pulled out my phone again, going to Google Images this time and typing in 'max steel 2013' and flipped my phone around.

"This show. What are the chances that I wake up in an area with _three important characters_ of this show?"

Once again, Body Armor leaned in, this time joined by Lab Coat and Blue Jacket.

"Huh," Blue Jacket said and leaned back.

Lab Coat reached forward and scrolled down, blinking surprise at what I assumed was his "namesake's" picture.

Body Armor grunted and scrolled down, only to raise his eyebrow and back away. "A TV show, huh?"

I nodded, eying him warily. "More of a cartoon, really. It's all CGI."

He grunted. "I don't believe you."

I nodded. "Okay. I'll go now then."

With that, I attempted to leave, only to be blocked by all three. I looked at them, annoyed.

"Right, right, can't see N-Tek, huh?" I scowled again and walked away from them to stare at the wall on the far side of the room morosely.

A large bag caught my eye and I went to investigate. A quick check inside revealed it was half full with several changes of clothes on top of a bunch of wires. I felt my eyes widen as I recognized the clothes as mine. The wires underneath were a charger for my laptop, my good headphones, my charging cord and wall socket for my phone.

I sat back and stared at it. "What."

"We found that with you," Lab Coat told me, walking closer. "We figured it was yours."

I shook my head. "I've never seen the bag, but the stuff inside is mine."

I hesitated. "Is there somewhere I can change? This is a costume, after all."

Lab Coat pointed to a door in the wall I was facing and I hoisted the bag over my shoulder and went in. A quick shuffle of the clothes revealed the standard clothes I wore to school, and I quickly pulled on my Autobot shirt and a pair of jeans. My feet went back into my boots and I folded the dress and the cloak in half and tucked it into the bag.

Now in more comfortable clothes, I scrubbed the little makeup I had worn off my face and left the bathroom. Body Armor was talking with a muscular black man who had brought in a computer. The whoosh of the door made them both turn to me, and with a nod to Body Armor, the new guy left.

"Who was that?" Lab Coat asked me, eagerly curious to see if I knew.

I took a step back. "If what you say is true, probably Jefferson Smith."

He beamed at me and I shuffled around him, eying him.

I placed the bag next to my shoulder bag and sat back on the bed. "What's that for?"

Body Armor pointed at me. "To show you the truth. Then maybe you'll tell us the truth."

I flipped him off, frustrated suddenly. "I have been!"

Lab Coat and Blue Jacket winced as Body Armor swelled in anger.

I flopped back and ignored him, pulling out my good headphones and plugging them into my phone to listen to music.

He growled and whacked my foot to "get my attention". I kicked him in response and sat up again. "Let's see this 'proof', then."

He rubbed his arm where I hit him and turned the computer so I could see only for me to go, "Uh… I can't read that."

I got weird looks from all three of them as I pointed at the screen. "It looks like wingdings and hieroglyphics had a baby that got whacked with the confusing stick."

"What alphabet do you normally use?" Lab Coat asked before Body Armor could say anything.

I pulled out my sketchbook and flipped to a blank page, writing down the romanized alphabet. "Ta da."

Lab Coat looked at it and said, "It's safe to assume it follows the pattern - abcd and so on, yes?"

I hummed in agreement and handed over my pen. He took the book and quickly wrote next to my alphabet. When I took it back, I saw a new alphabet had been written next to it - and it was similar to pigpen coding.

"Oh, that makes everything a lot clearer," I said, my eyes wide.

"How so?" Blue Jacket asked me.

"It's similar to a code style I used to use to pass notes with my friends," I answered absently as I used my new key to start decoding what was displayed on the computer.

My eyes widened as I read. It essentially was just a map, but it clearly showed that there was indeed a Copper Canyon in Arizona. It also showed that the only Kathryn Callahan had died at 60 three years ago in Seattle.

"You spelled my name wrong," I pointed at the screen. "It's A-G-H-A-N, not A-H-A-N."

Lab Coat walked over and tapped some of the holo-buttons, causing a loading box to pop up. I went back to translating, which were very much so edited files for Roberto Martinez, Forge Ferrus, and Max McGrath.

I turned and looked at Lab Coat, a deadpan look on my face. "You were born in Spain. Of course."

The computer beeped and I turned back, translating immediately. Lab Coat gasped, and I turned to look at him, confused, before I went back.

As I worked, I felt my eyes widen. "Holy shit."

"What?" Body Armor asked. "What is it?"

I read off my translated paper. "Kathryn Callaghan, born December 31st, 1997. That is my birthdate. But… I'm not dead."

Blue Jacket and Body Armor looked at each other. Lab Coat spoke up next.

"Kathryn Callaghan died April 15th, 2003. She was hit by a car and broke her spine in three places."

I stared at the paper, confused beyond belief. "Okay, that didn't happen. I remember it clearly. The car just grazed me. It broke my arm and gouged out a good portion of it. But it didn't hit me."

Blue Jacket frowned. "Wait, you remember an accident that killed you? Maybe you're a ghost!"

I made a face at him and held up my right arm to display the three faint lines. "Yeah, totally."

"Those are really faint," Lab Coat said doubtfully.

I rolled my eyes. "Coconut oil reduces scarring. I hate what these scars stand for and the memory they bring back, so first my mom then I have been applying it all these years. It's pretty cool what it can do."

Body Armor sighed and rubbed his forehead. "How can we convince you that all of this is real?"

I tilted my head and offered, "Steel. If this is real, there's a smart aleck floating AI around here somewhere."

"Steel?" Body Armor seemed surprised.

I shrugged. "Yeah. N'Baro Aksteel X377. He's an Omega Class Bio-Parasitic Subjugation Warrior."

There was a swirl of blue from the symbol on Blue Jacket and out came Steel. "You know who and what I am?"

My face went pale and my mouth dropped. "¿Qué coño?"

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

I lay back staring at the ceiling. "Well, fuck."

"You said that already," Lab Coat - Berto, because after seeing Steel, I really couldn't deny it anymore - said, amused.

I propped myself and stared at him, unamused. "Don't you have a robot to go tamper with? So, you know, he doesn't break next time you go into battle?"

Max snorted. "CY.T.R.O.? That thing won't break."

I pointed a finger at him. "Running gag. That thing breaks essentially every time it goes out. It is rarer for it not to than it is for it to."

Berto scowled. "Aw, man."

Forge shifted. "We aren't leaving until we understand why you're here."

I shrugged. "I'm in favor of massive hallucination, you know?"

"Hallucination?" Max sounded confused.

"I take offense to that," Berto scowled.

I sighed. "I'm sorry, but, from my perspective, it makes the most sense. I whack my head pretty hard and wake up in an alternate dimension that consists of a world I regularly watch on Netflix? Highly unlikely."

"Maybe your experiences before are the hallucination," Berto suggested.

I eyed Forge. "I can start reciting classified information, if that helps. Even things you don't know. For instance, Makino is blue."

Forge paled as Max frowned. "Who's Makino?"

I smiled cheerfully. "Bad guy that eats planets. Really mean too."

Forge interrupted me. "That's more than they need to know!"

I sighed and flopped back. "You do realize that, by not telling them, you're creating potentially hazardous situations in which they compromise your security by attempting to find the truth by themselves… right?"

Berto poked me. "What I want to know is why CY.T.R.O. keeps breaking."

I said lazily, "He gets shoved onto rock spikes, smashed, goo-ified, bodyslammed, used as a mace, and swatted around. General wear and tear, especially when you work with a superhero."

Forge interrupted both Max and Berto's exclamations. "I still don't believe you. There's no proof what you say, and as for what you know, you could have hacked into our files."

I sat up again and looked at him. "The best thing to prove I'm right, and for that, I need to know what's happened so I can orient myself. Who have you faced so far? Max has Steel, so that means THI isn't under Dredd and Naught's control anymore, but I can't really tell much more than that."

Max shrugged. "I've faced Toxzon."

I looked at him patiently. "How many times?"

"Twice," Forge told me.

I nodded. "Elementors?"

"Earth and Fire," this time it was Berto. "Why?"

I waved a hand. "Not important. Was Butch a hero already?"

"Yeah. What does that mean?"

I grinned. "That means sewer monsters!"

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

Thirty minutes later, after giving vague details about what happened, which led to an argument between Forge and me ("We need more than that!" "I can't tell you more!" "Why not?!" "For the same reason you aren't telling Max and Steel everything!" "...Fine!" "Fine!"), I was being led around by N-Tek by Berto and Max. Forge was following along, making sure they didn't show me anything _too_ classified.

I leaned close to Berto. "¿_Es él siempre esta paranoico_?"

He snorted and responded, "_Sí. Y él habla español_."

I blinked. "_Mierda_."

"Exactly," Forge said, sounding satisfied.

I hastily changed the subject. "Why don't you have, like, any inspiring art or something? The walls are very… white."

"We do," Berto told me. "There's a holo-statue of Max's dad near the ground entrance."

"It's pretty cool," Max said, grinning. "Wanna see it?"

"I don't think that counts as art, per se, but lead the way," I shrugged.

And so they did.

The holo-statue was very impressive.

"Holy crap, that's a big hologram," I stared up at it, wide-eyed. "Also, you look like your dad, Max."

Max smiled proudly, but deflated when Forge muttered, "If only he had his personality."

I snickered. "Beautiful. Hey, what day is it?"

Berto poked me. "November first."

"Oh. Cool," I said, perking up. "That means I can set up the talismans tonight and activate them tomorrow."

"Talismans?" Forge asked.

I nodded. "I'm a pagan witch. I'm also fairly certain the protections I had set up didn't cross over, so that means I need to set up new ones."

"Can I get some of those?" Berto asked. "There are a lot of dangerous things out there."

At that, I paused. "You never leave N-Tek. Like, ever."

Berto pouted and I sighed. "Can I leave now? There's no point in me staying here and I need to work on getting back."

Max leaned against the wall. "From the way you were talking, I thought you'd be excited to be here."

I sat on the floor, wincing at the soreness of my legs. "Well, yeah. I am a fangirl. But this is a bit too close to Mary Sue-ishness for me to be comfortable."

Max and Berto joined me on the floor as Forge came over to lean on the base of the holo-statue. "'Mary Sue-ishness'?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It's a fanfiction term, used to describe two-dimensional 'perfect' girls. The male equivalent is either Gary Stu or Marty Stu. I prefer Gary Stu, myself."

"And how are you close to being a… Mary Sue?" Berto asked, hesitating.

I wrinkled my nose. "How it usually works is some perfect character falls into a story, or is already there, and meets up with a main. She and this main fall in love, or, if the author's feeling angsty, deny their love and drag it out into waaaay too much angsty pining, which is awful. She's perfect, has superpowers, and-slash-or amazing fighting abilities that are completely inaccurate for her age and description. A Mary Sue's hair is blond, black, or some 'natural' color that is completely not. They're ridiculously beautiful, can usually sing and dance perfectly, know everything, and are capable of saving hardened warriors with a flutter of their impossibly perfect and long lashes. In short, they're _el diablo_."

All three looked mildly terrified and I snickered. "Don't worry though. I don't think we'll have to deal with any right now. As for me being a Mary Sue, well. The only thing that lines up so far is falling into the world. I can't fight, I'm so plain I'm borderline ugly, and I can only sing and dance decently."

They all relaxed at that point. I stretched up and rolled my shoulders, shaking out the muscles and popping my joints. Forge gestured for three of us to follow him and we stood. He led us down a series of twists and turns and I sighed as I instantly lost my way. It would take many hours of roaming to set up a mental map for me to use to navigate.

We finally stopped inside the com room.

I waved absently. "Hi. I'm Ryn. You two are Jefferson Smith and Kat Ryan."

The pair of them gave me weird looks. I smiled cheerfully at them then turned to Forge.

"Why are we here and can I blow something up?"

Max snickered as Forge groaned. "No, you can't blow something up. We're here to give you a communicator and figure out what to do with you while we wait for your information to be either proven wrong or right. In the meantime, you need to go to school, as it's state law."

I frowned. "Really? I'm a senior, I'm almost done. Can't I just hide here?"

Forge and Berto shook their heads. I nearly whimpered at Berto, then turned to Max.

"Help me out here!"

He smirked at me and said, "Nope."

I groaned. "Noooooo…."

Forge gave me a sadistic smirk. "And since we don't have records for you, you'll have to be a junior instead of a senior."

My eyes widened. "If I didn't know what the ultimate evil was, I'd think you were."

There were snickers from Jefferson and Kat, making me jump. "Hell's bells, I forgot you two existed. Although…"

I tilted my head to the side to contemplate what little I knew about the two of them, then shook my head and refocused.

"Communicator first, right? Why won't my phone work? For all appearances, it calls numbers from the local 'verse."

"Still, I want to check that," Forge told me, then rattled off a phone number.

I shrugged and dialed it, jumping as..._something_ in the com room rang. Jefferson touched a couple buttons, answering then hanging up.

I entered the number under "Nellie*", then looked up at Forge. "Anybody else I need to add?"

"Add me," Max told me, giving me his number.

One text later, and I was peering over his shoulder to see my simple "Hi" appear in the alphabet they used. "Well, that's helpful. I'll just have to keep people from seeing my phone, I guess."

Forge grunted, then gave me another number. "That's for emergencies only. It's my number, but don't call me unless you actually need help."

I mock-saluted him, then went to tuck my phone back in my pocket. Berto lunged forward and grabbed my hand.

"_Chica, __¿__pensaste en serio que no me iba a dar mi número?_"

I grinned sheepishly. "_Supuse que no le gustaría que, sobre todo desde que nos conocimos, literalmente, esta mañana._"

I paused. "That was this morning, right? This places screws with my time sense."

I received amused nods and a phone number from Berto. A thumbs up emoji confirmed I had the right number, and with that, Forge moved on.

"You need a place to stay," he announced.

I raised an eyebrow at him and said, "Give me five hours and an escort to make sure I don't go somewhere I'm not, and I can stay here without you ever seeing me."

"Really?" Max said, impressed. "It took me a couple of weeks to get the hang of this place."

I shrugged. "It's an ability born of necessity. I used to live in a small town and needed to know my way around so I could get places on my own. I've gotten used to constructing maps in my head that help me navigate places. Takes me a while though."

Forge looked at me suspiciously, while Berto seemed almost hopeful. "We can give it a try, but you'll still need a place to stay during the week. If you have friends, they'll eventually want to see where you live."

Max spoke up then. "We have an extra room. It's kinda small and Mom was talking about turning it into an office, but I don't think she'd mind."

"Thanks for the offer, Max," I smiled at him, "but how would you explain my sudden appearance?"

He stood there, stumped, and I shrugged. "It's only Saturday, right? We have some time."

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

Half an hour later, after being given a rundown of the rules and the security code to my temporary bunk, I met my escort outside the com room. He was one of the masked grunts and didn't talk much as I said hello, so I shrugged and started down the hall.

Max followed me, amused and wondering how the maps I made mentally functioned. "So, five hours, huh?"

I checked to make sure the hallway was empty, then turned around to talk to him. "Yeah. Normally a more complete map takes much longer, but I'm only going to focus on the paths I need to know right now. Forays into the rest of the wilderness known as N-Tek will have to wait until I'm more comfortable moving around."

Max nodded. "So what are the 'paths you need to know'?"

I frowned at him. "Air quotes are so 2003. And it's rather simple. I need to be able to go to and from the cafeteria, my bunk, the entrance, the com room, and Berto's lab. Everywhere else is currently irrelevant or I can ask for directions."

"That does make sense," Steel piped up, separating from Max for the first time in a while. "Those are the basic locations you need, and it is easier for you to only memorize the paths you need to know, instead of trying to learn the whole base at once."

To my credit, I only jumped a little. "Jesus, were you recharging or something? And yeah, that's the basic thought behind it. Shall we?"

With our mute guide following behind, the three of us set off on an adventure.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

Four hours later, I staggered into Berto's lab. "Ow. _Me duele todo._"

Berto turned around and looked at me. "¿_Por qué_?"

I slid down into a sitting position. "Max and Steel decided it would help me learn the paths if they stole my phone and ran away. Using TURBO energy, of course, so it was twice as hard. _Quiero matar a los dos._"

He joined me on the floor. "That's unfortunate. Has Commander Ferrus figured anything out?"

I smiled, grateful for the subject change. "Not that he's told me. Although I haven't had my phone for three hours, so…"

With that, I pulled it out to check and, upon finding nothing, turn up the ringer. "Nada. Ringer's on though, so I should be good."

Berto nodded. "Good. Wanna stay here? I have some things to do, but you're more than welcome to stay."

"Cool," I said. "I don't think either of those terrors know that I know where your lab is, so I'm more than happy to stay and keep you company."

I stayed on the floor as Berto got back up and went back to work.

I sat there, letting my overworked muscles twitch their way back into some semblance of non-pain, then carefully started stretching.

Berto hummed as he worked, checking over something that was too small and too much work for me to decode. It looked to me that he was mainly checking some sort of code for errors, as well as working on the code for something else entirely.

I stood after finishing my stretches and wandered down into the large open area beneath the large computronic workstation. CY.T.R.O. was down there, powered down and gleaming. I stepped closer and wandered around, looking but not touching. There were various other projects scattered around what was obviously a work area, but CY.T.R.O. was my focus for now.

I fell on my ass as CY.T.R.O. powered up, looking to see Berto grinning at me. "He's cool, huh?"

I nodded and stood. This time, as I made my circuit of CY.T.R.O., I took note of all the things that hadn't been activated and thus were hidden.

"So what all does he have in his arsenal?" I asked, attempting to peer at the upper part of the bot.

Berto turned it around and positioned the arm so it formed a ledge for me to stand on so I could continue my inspection. "There's not a lot of spare space, so for now he can only carry one thing at a time. I was hoping to fix it, but I'm not sure how."

I looked up at him. "I could probably help with that. It's just a matter of rearranging the components so there's enough space to add a retrieval system. Then all that needs to be done is add an electronic tag to each of the items in there so the system knows what to grab."

Berto frowned. "I've tried that. There isn't enough space."

"For you, maybe. Sometimes puzzles need fresh eyes, and all this really is is a three dimensional jigsaw puzzle."

A determined gleam entered his eyes and I yelped as CY.T.R.O. began to move over to a low work table, letting me get down before laying on it. "Let's do it, then!"

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

Forge found us there an hour and a half later, arm deep in CY.T.R.O., covered in grease and dirt and arguing over the best way to do the retrieval system. Some shuffling and rewiring had revealed a lot of spare space in the bot, and now we were trying to decide whether a magnetic retrieval system or a rack system would be better. The magnetic system would allow for more weapon storage, but could potentially mess with the electronics in CY.T.R.O., causing him to crash when he was needed. A rack system would be more durable, but could get jammed if CY.T.R.O. took too much damage.

I was in favor of the magnetic system, while Berto wanted the rack.

"Berto, a reinforcement of plastic would protect the electronics, and still give us more space for weapons," I said, exasperated.

"Yes, but the rack system would be easier to set up," he argued back.

I attempted to swipe my dirty hands on him as I growled, "Easier doesn't mean better. What if it jams while in battle? Whoever was gonna get that weapon would be defenseless!"

"Am I interrupting something?" Forge asked by the doorway.

I sighed. "No, not really."

I slid off the workbench and grabbed a rag to get some of the grease off. "CY.T.R.O.'s Berto's, right? Which means upkeep, maintenance, and upgrades are up to him."

Berto joined me on the ground and eyed me. "You aren't planning a prank, are you?"

I smiled. "Nah. Just got really into it and forgot that what happens to CY.T.R.O. is up to you and I'm just helping out."

Berto continued eying me, obviously wary of my sudden change of mood. I shrugged mentally and turned to Forge.

"What's up, Commander?"

Forge snorted. "It's nearing the end of dinner time and no one could recall seeing either of you for several hours. I'm just making sure you haven't killed our resident genius and made off with the body."

I scoffed. "Necrophilia is _so_ not my style. Although, now that you mention it, I am hungry."

Berto nodded. "We were absorbed in our work. Come on, I'll buy."

"Thanks," I yawned and stretched. "I'll pay you back sometime."

"Consider it payment for the help you gave me."

Forge followed us out and to the cafeteria. Right before we went in, he grabbed my arm.

"I may have come up with a solution to your predicament," he told me, "but I need more information about this coming 'event'."

I nodded, let the doors close behind Berto, and told Forge what he needed to do as a precaution.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

I joined Berto at the end of the line, smiling in response to his frown. "Where did you go?"

I looked up at the menu, realized how pointless it was, then looked back at him. "The commander needed to talk to me some time soon, so I told him then was as good as anything. He had some ideas on how to get me in school and explain my presence and wanted to know if there was anything about me personally he needed to know."

"Was there?" Berto asked me, a little suspicious.

I looked at him steadily. "Yes. I regretfully had to inform him I am an assassin from the moon sent here to kill all the bunnies."

Berto immediately scowled and punched me in the arm as I snickered. We were next in line, so he stepped up and ordered as I went to hunt down a table.

The only one with any kind of clear space was with Max and Steel.

I stopped in front of them and put my hands on my hips. "Steal my phone again you two, and I will make your lives a living hell. Remember, _I know where you sleep_."

They glanced at each other and nodded as Berto came over and the two of us sat.

"Oh, ho ho," Steel said gleefully. "Are you two dating?"

I casually reached out, grabbed him, flipped him over, and hit the mute button. "There we go. Much better. And no, Steel, we aren't. We _just_ met."

I let him go and chowed down on the tacos Berto had passed me, ignoring the stunned looks of my table mates and the increasingly frantic emojis Steel was flashing at me.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

I lay in my temporary bunk and stared sightlessly up at the ceiling after escaping the cafeteria and setting up my hastily prepared talismans in the sight of the moon.

It had been one hell of a day. Waking up and finding myself somewhere I wasn't familiar with… it was like the beginning of a bad fanfic.

I knew I had a friend in Berto and Max, though Max had apparently decided 'annoying little brother' was a better role, at least for the time being.

Forge didn't like me or trust me. Knowing him, he thought I was some sort of spy. Only time would tell him if I was telling the truth, and it wouldn't make him like me.

Oh, he might grow to tolerate me, but with the way I came into his life, he would never trust me.

I grinned up at the darkness and rolled over, falling asleep.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

**Welp, that's the first chapter. Lemme know what you think. Feed the author reviews - she writes faster!**

**Translations of my (admittedly bad) Spanish (I used Google Translate):**

**chica - girl**

**dios mio - My God**

**Lo siento - I'm sorry**

**Esta bien. Como es su nombre? - It's fine. What's your name?**

**Estoy Berto. - I'm Berto.**

**¿Qué coño? - What the fuck?**

**¿Es él siempre esta paranoico? - Is he always this paranoid?**

**Sí. Y él habla español. - Yes. And he speaks Spanish.**

**Mierda. - Shit.**

**el diablo - the devil**

**Chica, ****¿****pensaste en serio que no me iba a dar mi número? - (Roughly) Girl, did you seriously think I wasn't going to give you my number?**

**Supuse que no le gustaría que, sobre todo desde que nos conocimos, literalmente, esta mañana. - (Roughly) I guessed you wouldn't want to, especially since we literally met this morning.**

**Me duele todo. - Everything hurts.**

**¿Por qué? - Why?**

**Quiero matar a los dos. - I want to kill them both.**

**Also if you're underage, please don't use these to swear in Spanish. '_ I'd rather not get angry reviews. (Of course, I'm going to use these. Yay, hypocrisy!)**

**I will go ahead and disclaimer - if you don't recognize it, chances are I made it up. That means - I don't know where Berto was born; I don't know what the conversion for the alphabet they use is (though pigpen cipher is a real thing - google it!); my Spanish sucks so the vast majority of the Spanish you see above is Google Translate; and whatever little things you noticed that aren't exactly canon.**

**Also, this is the longest chapter I have ever written. 21 pages. Holy shit.**

**I can't promise they'll all be this long, but they all will at least be ten pages of story. ^^**


	2. In Which I am a Witch

**Okay, wow. The day after I posted this, I got a bunch of updates, which, honestly, made my morning.**

**Since it's already happening, I decided to continue the list idea from my other story. :D**

**Favorites/Follows: doglover1290, IluvWinxandRandyCunningham, and Shouhei Narumi.**

**Reviews: doglover1290, and Shouhei Narumi.**

**This. This makes me happy. And that means I write.**

**I will warn those who have this story on alert - I'll probably be posting these chapters on Wednesdays unless something happens, so that means any errors I see when I look at it will be fixed and you'll get updates.**

**Sorry.**

**Disclaimer: The witch is mine. Everything else isn't. And now I'm sad. :(**

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

I woke up as my alarm went off. I groaned and whacked it, frowning unhappily.

Being a witch could be hard.

With that, I rolled out of bed and got dressed before padding near silently out of my room. I was on a mission - grab my talismans and get them in my closet before I was caught.

It was just after four and the moon had about fifteen minutes left before it vanished completely. No one had told me I couldn't wander around at night, but I didn't want to get caught, just in case.

Forge might actually have thrown me off a cliff and, as I was not TURBO powered and hopefully wouldn't be (too close to being _el diablo_ for me to actually wish for that), it would be a long fall followed by an abrupt stop and a lot of pain.

I paused, struck by a sudden thought. "Why don't they ever attack at night? It's always during the day time. Weird."

I shook it off and continued down the hallway, slipping silently out of a door that wasn't wired to let someone know it had been opened. An oversight, I was sure, but one I had planned on exploiting as much as possible without making it a weakness.

I stopped at the edge of the weak light, watching carefully to make sure there was nothing that would spot me, then dashed to the open outcrop that hid my talismans from sight but still gave access to the moonlight. I ducked into the opening I had found on my scouting and grinned at the paper talismans hanging on a line, alternately flashing kanji and sigils. Quickly unhooking them, I hightailed it back to the door and then to my room.

I breathed a sigh of relief once I was safely there, heading to the closet and opening the door to hang them on the waiting line. The four energy nullifiers were slid into the waiting page protectors - made using tape, because of course I couldn't request page protectors - and I shut the door firmly, staggered back to the bed, and passed out.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

My secondary alarm went off at seven thirty. If it had been my choice, I would have slept 'till noon - anything magical drained me, as it was just essentially the manipulation of energy - but it was not my choice and Forge wanted me up that early to brief me.

As I hadn't changed clothes, it was easy enough for me to roll out of bed and go brush my teeth and my hair. Straightening my clothes, I walked out of my room and headed to the com room, only to find no one was there.

"Welp," I sighed, "time to ask for directions."

After stopping several grunts, I finally got a complete set of instructions and headed off to Forge's office. I pressed the buzzer and waited a few minutes, darting in when the doors opened.

"You wanted to see me?" I asked, twitching slightly.

I didn't do well with sleep deprivation and it had been hard to fall asleep, what with the lump on my head. It felt better this morning, and by better, I meant it no longer felt like someone was stabbing me in the head with a knife every time I shifted. It was more of a low level ache, and I resigned myself to at least another four days of headaches before it was mostly gone.

Forge looked up and pointed to a stack of paper. "That's how we'll resolve this situation. On paper, you're my daughter. You'll be staying with your 'cousin' Max and your 'aunt' Molly. You'll be enrolled in the school and your first day will be on Tuesday."

I twitched more violently. "¿_En qué universo es que una buena idea_?"

He glared at me. "It's not my favorite idea, but it's the best one. All you need to do is sign the papers, then scram."

"Yes, sir," I said sarcastically as the little Sue-meter in my head slowly ticked closer to the red danger area.

Several signed papers later and I was outta there and heading to Berto's lab to whine.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

I walked in, took one look at the three empty cups, and seriously contemplated walking back out. Unfortunately, Berto saw me. Fortunately, it appeared that coffee was helping him function, and not actually making him hyperactive.

"Ryn!" he waved. "Max is coming in later and I wanted to get cytro finished before he got here. Mind helping?"

I grinned and bounced over. "Sure! What do you need me to do?"

He shrugged. "I'm going with the rack system, but I'm taking your suggestion and adding a layer of plastic around the electronics, just in case."

I reached over and snagged the surgical masks, tossing one to him. "Airbrushing?"

He smiled evilly. "Airbrushing."

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

It actually didn't take that long to finish the upgrade to cytro, and we closed him up and got him on his feet just in time for Max to wander in. I took myself over to a corner with a book that I'd found and my alphabet convertor, in an effort to familiarize myself better. I was hoping to get my fluency with it up to the level of the other two codes I knew, so that I could just scan it and not have to actively translate it.

School would be very hard for me if I couldn't.

Berto watched me curiously as I worked quietly, before turning back to greet Max. They did their guy thing and I worked quietly, only glancing up when Max shorted out cytro.

My head snapped up when I heard the words "TURBO touch proof", however, and with that, I was up and moving, shooting past the startled pair.

I ignored their surprise, retracing my steps to the com room, checking in for Forge and heading to his office upon finding he wasn't there.

I slapped the button and bounced in, interrupting Forge before he could blow up. "It's today."

His mouth snapped shut and his face instantly went into battle mode. He nodded curtly and turned to Jefferson and Kat, who looked confused. I left immediately, heading back to my room. There wasn't a lot I could do for now, and if I was in the lab, I would be too busy pacing and upset Berto and Steel. At least in my room, I could pace without disturbing someone.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

I had finally managed to settle down and get back to my book, which was actually pretty interesting once I got the hang of it, when the alarm went off. Even though I was expecting it, it still startled me.

I shot off my bed and headed to the area I had made sure to wander past a time or two. The rest of the common group were already there.

Forge looked at me. "Where do we look?"

I smiled faux cheerfully. "Bathrooms. Also, be careful. Max, Steel, Berto, head to the waste plant on the outskirts of town."

With that, we split up. I followed Forge, as he was the only one without a partner.

"Why a bathroom?" he asked as we ran.

I shrugged. "By this point, one of the goop monsters has gotten his hands on cytro's remote, which means he's hiding in a bathroom as cytro heads for the vault. You replaced the bomb?"

He gave me me a short nod and kicked open a bathroom door. I dropped to the ground and checked for feet and/or goop, shaking my head in a negative when Forge looked at me.

We moved on to the next bathroom. It, too, was empty and I could practically feel the frustration roll off my temporary partner.

"Where is it?" Forge growled.

I skidded to a stop, my eyes wide. "Oh, crap! It's near the Chemi-Vault! I forgot that cytro whacked Max through a wall into a bathroom!"

Forge slid to a stop and ran in the opposite direction. I pelted after him and poked the communicator I had been handed.

"Search teams, head for the Chemi-Vault! Our target is in a bathroom near there!"

We slid around a corner and Forge kicked open a door. I dropped and felt my eyes widen - there was our target! I scooched to the side and nodded, holding up three fingers.

In went he, kicking the stall open, swiping the control pad, and shooting the goop monster.

I poked the communicator. "Berto, you there?"

He answered almost immediately. "We're almost there. How are things there?"

I looked back into the bathroom, where Forge was gleefully flushing the goop monster down the toilet. "We found the goop monster and it was neutralized. Once Forge is done, there will be reinforcements coming your way. See ya."

Berto acknowledged and I turned back in time to catch the tablet and jump at an explosion. "I guess cytro got the tox-bomb. He's got rockets, which means we need to head to the plant ourselves. Well, you. I'm useless."

Forge nodded. "Head to the com room. Be on hand."

I saluted and took off.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

I slid into the com room and trotted to the station one of the grunts pointed to me. It basically was just a continuous monitor of casualties, as well as information on Max's body readouts, as well as Forge's and Berto's.

I flicked the current screen to the left and got a map of N-Tek, with red areas highlighting damaged sections. I also noticed three squads on standby, apparently waiting for orders.

I touched one and nearly jumped when a comm link opened. "Um, okay, then. Squad four, head down the hall to your front and left. At the end, there is a collapse blocking… what appears to be a med bay. Go ahead and clear that, if you can."

To my surprise, they instantly set off. I grinned and deployed the other three squads quickly before flicking that screen to the left to see damage and personnel reports from the three med bays, including the blocked one.

I touched it and smiled victoriously at the comm link that appeared. "Medical two, squad four is on their way to clear your entrance. Are you currently available to accept patients?"

There was a pause, and then someone responded. "Affirmative, Command. What is the ETA of squad four?"

I flicked the medical screen to the right, revealing squad four was just about there. "Less than a minute, Medical two. If possible, please move personnel away from the door."

"Affirmative, Command. Medical two out."

I flicked the two screens to the left, revealing another screen, which was an aerial map of the area showing N-Tek forces out in the world. I figured it would be for seeing who needed to be pulled out and where reinforcements were needed. Right now, it wasn't necessary, but coming up, it would be.

A flick left put me back at the casualty reports. I sighed and got to work decoding it, relieved to see that it was majorly structural damages and that no one had actually died or gotten seriously hurt.

Medicals one and three were handling the injuries that were present effectively.

A beeping noise caught my attention and I saw that it was squad four checking in. I tapped the icon.

"Command." 

"Command, this is squad four. Medical two is clear. Awaiting orders."

I flicked to that screen and looked over the map. "Squad four, there is a collapsed section to the south. Please clear it."

"Affirmative, Command. Squad four is heading out."

After that, squad three checked in and I sent them to help squad two, who had messaged me seconds earlier to request such help.

Squad one was sent to clear the area near the Chemi-Vault and to see what could be done about the holes blown in the walls.

I descended into a bit of a haze, working to get the base back to, if not completely the same, as close as possible.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

I nearly jumped out of my skin close to three hours later when Berto touched me on the shoulder. "Ack!"

He laughed at me. "_Chica, tienes que relajarte._"

I scowled at him. "_Yo estaba concentrado! ¿Por qué estás aquí? Pensé que estaría jugando con CY.T.R.O._"

He shrugged. "The commander is looking for you."

I sighed and did a last check through the screens. Medical had treated everyone and the squads were finishing up the last of the repairs. Casualty reports had been read and sent to the appropriate persons (which took one of the other grunts helping me, to be honest). I nodded and tapped the handy button I had found which let me speak to all the squads at once.

"Alright, once you're done with your current tasks, you're done. Well done, all."

I turned back to Berto and grinned. "Lead the way."

Forge was sort of happy to see me. In the "you're now my responsibility and if something had happened to you there would have been a lot of paperwork" sort of way.

He was not, however, happy about my temporary assignment to the Casualties Station.

"That was not what I meant when I told you to go to the com room and be on hand."

I shrugged, sinking a little more down into the chair. "It needed to be done. Besides, it kept me from getting bored."

He groaned. "You could have messed something up."

I smiled. "But I didn't. And now that I've done that, I'm going to pester one of the grunts into telling me where all the protocols and regulations are located and go look up what I should have done so I can do it better if it happens again."

I could practically feel him wanting to slam his head into the desk. "You aren't actually an N-Tek operative."

I stared at him. "Um, neither is Max. Soooo…. you know, there goes that argument. Hey, I'm actually useful for more than just smacking stuff, although I can't really smack stuff."

Berto, who had been listening in amusement this whole time, added, "She has a point. Unless you want to send her out to fight?"

I cringed. "I'm a pacifist of the highest order. Please don't. I will be all the support you want, but please do not make me fight."

They both stared at me. I looked at the ceiling.

"Really?" Berto sounded surprised.

I nodded, still looking at the ceiling. "It's one of the obligations I choose to hold myself to. Don't curse people unless they deserve it, protect those you can, work with the environment, and don't use violence unless you will die otherwise."

Forge and Berto looked at each other, then Forge shook his head. "Well, that complicates matters. Ryn, dismissed. Try not to destroy anything."

I scowled and left. It didn't really matter what I did, it was nearly impossible to destroy the base. I could, however, activate my talismans and tie them to stone charms.

I grinned and bounded towards my room.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

I waved at the door duty guard as I casually strolled by, shoulder bag full of my current magical supplies. I was going to set up a dozen bind tags to charge, mainly because I wasn't sure if there were any malevolent entities, and also because they were good practice for drawing things the exact same way every time.

I knew he'd tell Forge I was leaving base, and I knew Forge would tell Berto to track me, but I was hoping I'd have enough time to activate all of my talismans.

With that, I ran over to my outcropping and got to work setting everything up.

It didn't take me very long, and I chose to spend the rest of the time waiting for the sun-charging talismans activating those that were moon-charged only, which was one of my protection charms, my don't notice me charm, and my misdirection charm, and transferring them to quartz stone charms.

There were better stones to use, but there was quartz everywhere and quartz was naturally good at storing spells, so quartz I used.

Afterwards, I sat there, watching the sun set. Surprisingly, there was no very mad Forge appearing, or a curious Berto, or an even curiouser Max.

It was relaxing.

Of course, I remembered I had to go to school Tuesday, which made me a little sad.

At least Forge wasn't making me go tomorrow.

As the sun set, I climbed down and set up my moon talismans to charge as I took and activated my sun and moon-and-sun charged talismans. There were only a few - another protection charm, a charm against negativity, and a talisman to warn for those with ill intent.

All in all, it was standard fare against the things that go bump in the night. Usually I would go about setting up a larger array of protections, but as it stood now, this was the best short notice stuff I could get.

I collected my stones and my completed, non-stone needing talismans and trooped inside just as the moon appeared over the edge of the canyon.

Forge was waiting for me just inside the doors. "What were you doing?"

I looked at him. "Magic."

He scowled at me. "There is no such thing."

I stopped and faced him fully, raising an eyebrow. "You're trying to prevent a full-on war with an alien guy that eats planets, has an army of tiny highly intelligent robots that take over and reconfigure whatever they choose into fully automated weapons, your sister married an _alien_, and you get a cybernetically advanced arm that replaces the one that gets eaten by a centipede monster, and you don't believe in magic. Right, cuz that's logical in the face of everything you've seen."

I shook my head and walked away, missing the stunned stupid look on Forge's face.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

I checked my handy dandy moon app and set my first alarm for about twenty minutes before the moon went down, a little after four thirty. I inwardly whined - getting up early was _evil_.

It was worth it though, so I went to sleep almost immediately.

I was a little disoriented when my alarm went off, but followed the pattern of yesterday, slipping out to collect my recharged talismans and make sure the necessary sun talismans were ready to be hung before heading back inside.

This time, however, Berto was waiting for me. "What were you doing outside so early?"

I held up the paper talismans. "It's bad to leave them out there. Most of these are moon-charge only, so leaving them out to be hit by the sun can mess up the magic."

I started walking back to my room and Berto trailed after me. "You're a pagan, right?"

I nodded and yawned. "Pagan doesn't necessarily mean witch though. It just so happens that I'm both."

He tilted his head. "_¿Por qué usted se convierte en una bruja?_"

I shrugged. "_Es parte de mi herencia._"

Berto frowned at me. "Being a witch is part of your heritage?"

I laughed, shaking my head. "I'm of Irish and Scottish descent. Both islands had their own peoples, called the Celts. The Celts had their pantheons. Besides, people do scary things in the name of Christianity."

We stopped outside my door. I shifted talismans around so I could get a hand free to enter my code, waving goodbye to Berto as I entered.

After hanging them up, I fell into bed and passed out, content.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

***collapses* There we go. I have done my authorly duty and am going to go sleep till next Sunday. Translations below.**

**el diablo - the devil**

**¿En qué universo es que una buena idea? - In what universe is that a good idea?**

**Chica, tienes que relajarte. - Girl, you need to relax.**

**Yo estaba concentrado! ¿Por qué estás aquí? Pensé que estaría jugando con CY.T.R.O. - I was focused! Why are you here? I thought you'd be playing with CY.T.R.O.**

**¿Por qué usted se convierte en una bruja? - Why did you become a witch?**

**Es parte de mi herencia. - It's part of my heritage.**

**It's not as long this time. It would've been longer and out tomorrow, but alas, I was denied laptop time. Unfortunate, really.**

**Ten pages, which is my new lower limit, but it's done and out!**


	3. In Which There is Plot and a Sue-Meter

**You know, I was feeling bad about not having this all typed up months ago, but then I realized that essentially no one reviewed.**

**Thanks, guys. If you review, I actually feel like getting my not-okay ass into gear and writing for you. :(**

**Sigh.**

**Here we go again.**

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

Fortunately for my sanity, I was allowed to sleep in as late as I wanted which, after the weekend I'd had, was somewhere in the vicinity of noon.

When I woke up, I stretched and got out of bed. As it was noon, there was hot water in the shower. I finished waking up, took care of cleaning myself, got out, and dressed.

Today it was a pair of black pants and a short red kimono style shirt. Slightly dressy, sure, but I planned on exploring today and they were lightweight and durable, so I wouldn't be in danger of overheating too much.

I skipped out of my room and into the hallway, ignoring the looks I got. Berto was waiting nearby and stood up as I went near him.

"_Por fin_!" he exclaimed. "I thought you would sleep all day!"

I scowled at him. "Please, I only do that when I stay up way too late. And I haven't done that for nearly three months."

He laughed at me and I rolled my eyes. "What do you want, anyway?"

With that, Berto started walking, motioning for me to follow him. "The commander wanted to see you as soon as you woke up."

I groaned. "Do you think I'm lucky enough he forgot whatever it was he wanted to talk about?"

He smirked and shook his head. "Might want to get one of those charms of yours ready."

I held up the pouch holding my don't notice me charm. "This one? Yeah, I might."

With that, I went into the now familiar room and sat in the chair.

Berto followed me in, looking positively gleeful. I did the only responsible and mature thing I could - I flipped him off. He just smirked. Forge cleared his throat and I turned back around.

"You'll be staying with Molly during the week. After school Friday you'll come here and you'll head back Sunday afternoon. You will be respectful - Molly's agreed to take you in, when she didn't have to. Max will show you important locations, as well as the different hatches around town that lead here. Understood?"

I nodded glumly. "Understood. I promise to behave."

Forge nodded sharply. "Alright, be at the hangar at 1800 hours. Dismissed."

I fled, more than ready to finally get to exploring.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

I attempted to leave, only for the door guard to tell me I'd been confined to base.

I was sorely tempted to punch him in the face. Alas, I would not allow myself to, so I went and tracked down colored paper, scissors, tape, and a marker before heading back to my room.

Once there, I taped the large white papers to the wall and wrote "_The Sue Meter_" on the bottom one. Next to it, I stuck about ten to the wall, separated, over the heading "_Nullified Reasons_".

I spent the next ten minutes attempting to cut out a red circle I was okay with, cheering to myself when I finally got it.

A quick run to Berto's lab so I could badger him into teaching me how to use the replicator and I came back with about twenty red circles.

I cast a critical eye at the meter on my wall, then labeled the safe zone, the worry zone, and the danger zone, which I tried to do in a cartoon-y style, then ignored the imperfections.

I began writing what had caused the Sue-meter to grow. _Dropped into universe_ got five circles, _Friends with Mains (so far)_ got two for each main, which was three. I frowned at the wall, as I was well into the worry zone. I sighed and added another two dots for _Magic_. Another five dots went up, labeled as _Adopted by Forge_, with three for _Living with Mains_.

Hello, Sueville. I scowled and thought about anything else, adding a dot for _Appearance_. I tapped my marker on my chin, then added another dot for _Pacifist_.

I stepped back and stretched, before pulling off three dots and moving them to the first big sheet, writing at the bottom _Unable to Fight_. Three more went on _Dances Decently_. I added another two to the final sheet I was going to mark, which was _Plain_.

I was back to the worry zone, but I still smiled happily.

Worry was better than actual danger.

With that, I started cleaning up my mess, jumping when my room buzzer went off. A quick check revealed my little project had taken up nearly an hour and a half, making it two o'clock.

I opened my door, staring in surprise at Berto. "Um, hi?"

He frowned at me. "Have you been in here since you bullied me into teaching you to use the replicator?"

I scowled at him. "I didn't bully, I badgered. And yes. I was making a Sue-meter, see?"

With that, I stepped aside, revealing my newly decorated wall.

He eyed it and said, "Most people just put up posters."

I rolled my eyes and walked out. "You know what? I'm gonna go find someone else to hang out with. You have officially quit being fun."

Berto followed me, amused. "I doubt that. I want to look at your charms, if that's alright with you."

I stopped, then turned and headed for his lab, which was in the opposite direction, the resident genius trailing like an inappropriately amused duckling.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

I leaned against the side of Berto's computer, watching curiously as he set some sensors up. "So, I've been here half an hour, and all you've done is poke at your computer. Please tell me you'll be done soon."

He looked at me. "I'm done."

I sighed in relief and headed down into the work area. "Now what?"

He shrugged. "Do your magic thing?"

I sighed and gently slid my finger inside the case holding the rock charm for my don't notice me charm, touching it.

Berto frowned almost immediately and started checking things. I crossed my arms over my chest and sat down, resigned for another half hour of tests.

Unfortunately, Berto almost immediately called, "Ryn, where are you?"

I scowled at him and waved my arms. "I'm right here, dude."

He frowned, and looked around. "Ryn, if you're still here, deactivate your charm."

My lips twisted, and I brushed my hand over the rock, deactivating it. "What the hell, Berto? I was right here the entire time!"

Berto gave me a weird look and motioned me up. "You were gone, _chica._ Like, no trace of you at all."

I scampered to his side and we watched the footage. Berto frowned as I pointed at the screen, scowling. I was clearly there.

"_Qué extraño_," he muttered. "You were gone. I guess it doesn't work on machines?"

I shrugged. "Probably not. Most magic is bending natural energy to suggest what you want. Machines aren't really… natural."

He looked at me, eyebrow raised. I shrugged in response.

"What do you want to test now?"

"Well, what else do you have?" he asked, standing and stretching.

I tapped my chin. "I have some warding ones, mainly designed to keep away bad intentions and those who want to do me harm. Those are always active. Uh, I have half a dozen bind tags, mainly for trapping areas and beings of negativity and dealing with them. My misdirection charm, a personal protection charm - it serves as sort of a warning and puts up a light screen to discourage people from attacking me - as well as several other protection tags."

He frowned. "Why so many protections?"

I shivered. "The world is far more vast than you know. There are _things_ out there that love getting to people. I can't see them - I have no magical senses, not really - but I know they exist and I don't want to take any chances."

He nodded somberly. "I can understand. So what's the difference between a don't notice me charm and a misdirection charm?"

I smiled, thankful for the change in subject. "They essentially do the same thing. Don't notice me is supposed to be exactly that - a spell to lessen the chances of someone noticing me. A misdirection charm doesn't stop people from noticing me. It just twists their attention away. Sometimes, they'll realize something is wrong, but they won't know what. Actually, it happens with both. Leftover senses from when we were hunted by everything, I guess."

Berto nodded. "Makes sense. I want to test it, as well as your personal protection charm and those bind tags. How do they work?"

"Usually, when I'm hunting spirits, I'll set them up on the ground. Their entire purpose is to bind and trap so you can destroy. Most commonly I do a salt bath and then burn them. I can also deactivate them. I don't, not normally - like I said, I have no magical senses at all, so I can't tell when one's caught something. And it's not like they catch anything good - it's specifically bad only. I burn them all just to be safe."

Berto nodded as I walked back to the crate. "Can't you do a detection spell or something?"

I snorted. "Apparently I wasn't clear enough. I have all the magical awareness of a rock. The only way I can tell when something magical is influencing stuff is by knowing my own baseline."

"Makes sense," Berto nodded. "Activate your misdirection spell?"

I did as he asked and watched him start twitching. "Poor baby. You know I'm here, but you don't know where I am."

Berto typed something and then called, "Okay, deactivate."

I did so and leaned back. "Bind or protection?"

Berto powered up cytro and grinned. I went pale.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

I panted heavily an hour later, glaring at Berto. "Are you done now?"

He laughed at me. "_Sí, chica_."

I groaned and flopped on the ground. "You're evil. Evil evil evil."

He shrugged. "Now we know what you can and can't protect against."

I sat up and stared at him. "You launched rockets at me. ROCKETS. I don't have actual physical shields, never mind the fact that all of my spells are apparently getting a super boost here!"

He snickered. "You're such a baby."

I glared at him and narrowed my eyes. "You know, I have some cantrips that had no applicable uses in my world, as magic there suggested and not did. Here, though…"

Berto paled and looked away. "Right. Don't you need to pack?"

I tilted my head to the side. "It's 3:30 now, and I don't leave till 6. Besides, what the hell do you think I've been doing? Most of my stuff is still in the bag."

Berto nodded at that. "Huh. Interesting. Well, I've got all the data I need for now."

I sighed. "What a polite dismissal. In that case, I think I'm gonna go make some barrier seals and see what happens with them."

Berto snorted as I hauled myself up and left.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

I stopped by my room to do a quick check to make sure I did actually have everything I needed packed already. Fortunately, I did, so I dragged the bag over by the door and grabbed my paper supplies and my brush, as well as a pencil. I made sure to grab my phone and set an alarm for 5:30, before heading out to find a suitable place to work on barrier seal designs, as well as some individual protections to incorporate into every NTek suit I could get my hands on.

I chose a little break room and flopped onto the floor, pulling out my little sigil compendium and flipping through it. It had no organization - sigils got added when I created them, no matter what their purpose or meaning, which made finding certain ones an adventure sometimes.

It didn't take me long to find the ones I wanted to mess with today, though there were a few I had to create on the fly.

To be completely honest, I figured it would take me longer than a couple hours to work out everything, so I was pleasantly surprised when my alarm went off and I had completed the barrier seals and inked them, as well as figured out the base work for the NTek suits. I stretched, popping my back and gathered up my paper explosion.

Tags that didn't work out as well as I had wanted them to went into a pile to be burned later, the barrier seals were put into another stack to be placed in my charm closet until I could charge them, and my compendium got tucked back into my jacket.

I stood and stretched some more before heading back to my room, where I put everything away and slung my bag across my back.

Berto was waiting for me in the deployment area, along with Max and Ferrus when I arrived.

"_Adiós_," he told me, hands in his pockets. "See you Friday."

I stared at him. "Okay, then. Bye."

Ferrus stepped forward then. "Max will take you and your bag to his house. Don't destroy anything."

I gave him my best bitchface. "Like I would anyway. Under the radar is my modus operandi."

Max grabbed me, then. I got in one more wave before he took off, taking me to Canyon City.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

Mrs. McGrath was home when Max dragged me in the door. "Ah, so you're our mysterious girl."

I winced. "Yeah, apparently. Thanks for letting me stay. And for agreeing to pretend to be related to me."

She laughed. "Sure thing, kiddo. Your room is through there."

She pointed to a door behind me and I thanked her again before looking. It was a nice room, though kind of empty. I dropped my bag on the bed and looked out the window, smiling at the view.

Max stood in the doorway and grinned at me. "It'll be nice to have someone else be the new kid."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that. I need to unpack, at least partially. Out."

He laughed and closed the door. My laptop went on the desk, along with my phone charger and my phone. The few changes of clothes I had went into the chest of drawers, whereas my Little Red outfit went on a hangar and hung off a wall light.

My makeup bag went on the desk as well, and I was done.

A quick dinner with Max and Mrs. McGrath ("call me Molly, please") and I passed out on the bed.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

The next morning, I stood looking at my clothes, trying to decide what to wear. I had pulled apart my Little Red costume - I was of the opinion the best costumes were ones made of clothes you could wear every day - and was contemplating wearing the skirt with a shirt.

The only problem was which shirt.

I gave up and pulled on the black skirt and a green half sleeve. My feet went into my riding boots and I grabbed my side bag.

Max was waiting for me by the door. He handed me a slice of toast and dragged me out the door.

"Whoa," I laughed as he pulled, "you're in a bit of a hurry. Excited about school?"

"As if," he huffed. "I just want to introduce you to my friends."

I snorted and ate quickly, moving to walk next to him. "Unfortunately for you, I have to head to the main office first. I don't think I'll be able to meet your friends."

He groaned. "Lunchtime then."

We arrived at the school soon after, and I headed into the main office while Max headed to find his friends.

The secretary told me to take a seat and I did with a sigh. _Now to play the waiting game_.

An hour later, I was released from the office, schedule in hand, to go join my first hour. It was halfway through the period, which I felt was done on purpose. Teachers had to get their kicks somehow, and what better way than to torture new students?

Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you looked at it, I shared first period with Max.

I sighed again and knocked on the door before opening it.

The teacher gave me a nasty look. "And you would be?"

"Kathryn Callaghan," I responded. "New student."

He sighed huffily and gestured towards the class. "Take a seat, then. And don't expect any help."

I groaned quietly and took a seat in the middle of the class. _I hate school._

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

The day passed uneventfully. I sat with Max, Sydney, and Kirby at lunch. Butch came over to harass me, as every bully will to a new kid.

I looked up at him. "You know, you're not that scary."

He scowled. "I'm Butch, you should be scared."

I sighed. "I'm fast enough and flexible enough that, should you decide to hit me, you would never be able to touch me. Don't even bother."

He snorted. "Why are you sitting with Max? You enjoy loser stench."

"He's my cousin. If you don't mind, lunch is over and I'd like not to be late on my first day. Excuse me." With that I stood and dumped my tray, leaving the lunch room.

I made it through the rest of the day and headed home with Max, who promptly left to head to N-Tek headquarters for some reason or another.

I sat in my room and did my homework, before getting up and snooping in the kitchen.

After a quick survey, I decided to make mac n cheese casserole and got to work.

It didn't take me long, which is part of why I chose it.

About half an hour after it was done congealing, Max stumbled in the door. I was checking over several tags and cantrips I had made a lot earlier, trying to see if any could be used now.

I was cringing a little at how basic some of them were, but it was to be expected - these were very very early ones.

"Food?" Max said as he staggered through the door.

I pointed at the covered dish on the counter. "Hello to you, too. Go ahead and help yourself."

He did as I said and fixed himself a large plate, joining me on the couch. "What are you doing?"

I cracked my neck. "Trying to see if anything in my archive could be helpful now that the laws of reality have changed. No luck so far, though I might start doing the good luck and bad luck cantrips. Practice and all that, you know?"

He snorted. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."

I chuckled. "What were you doing at N-Tek?"

He groaned. "More training. Always training. It's frustrating and I'm always starving afterwards."

I nudged him. "The only way to improve is to practice, dork. You know that. And you're burning a lot of energy. It makes sense you'd be starving afterwards. Let me do some research, and I can get you snacks or stuff for afterwards."

He gave me a weird look. "Why would you do that?"

I blushed and looked away. "My friends and I took martial arts classes. Gen was of the opinion that, if we weren't hungry enough to eat a small cow afterwards, we didn't work hard enough. I've gotten used to carrying around high calorie snacks for energy drops."

He nodded, a touch suspicious. "Uh huh."

I sighed. "Max, I'm not gonna kill you, poison you, or do anything to hurt you. I swear."

Steel made an appearance. "Well, we don't know for sure, especially since you haven't told us anything, like Ferrus."

I tilted my head. "It's a bit of a balance, Steel. I have to figure out what I can tell you, versus what you need to know. If I make the wrong choice, I could get all of us killed, you know?"

"That's true," Steel allowed, "but you said so yourself - Max and I put people in danger because we need to know."

"And even though we don't want to hurt anyone," Max jumped in, "we still need to know. Why am I exploding with energy? What is Steel? Why does N-Tek exist?"

I tilted my head and sighed. "Alright, I can answer a few of those. Max, the energy is alien. You'll find out more later, but for now, that's all I can say. It's very much so an alien thing. Steel is the same as the Elementors. The only difference is is he chose to work with his host, instead of control it. He's… unique. N-Tek exists because there are very bad things out in the universe who don't care that they'll murder millions of living, thinking beings as long as they benefit, which they invariably will. N-Tek is, currently, the first and last defense against those things."

Both of them were silent.

"I just gave you more questions, didn't I?" I sighed.

"Yeah," Steel said. "You really did."

"I'm sorry," I told them. "I'll keep pestering Ferrus until he decides to give you answers, and I'll do my best to give you what answers I can."

Max shoulder-bumped me. "Don't be sorry, you're already more helpful than Uncle Ferrus."

I laughed at that and shook my head, reaching forward and grabbing a stack of papers. "Take these. They're barrier seals. Just imagine a switch flipping on to activate them. They should keep pretty much anything from hitting you."

Max took them and tucked them in a pocket. "Thanks."

I shrugged. "Not a problem. I'm off to bed. See ya."

Goodnight came from the pair as I headed to my room.

**~~~~MSFF~~~~**

**I love the Sue-meter. More good self-inserts should have one. I can imagine some of the more interesting ones for different fandoms.**

**The Sherlock fandom would have so much fun with those. Sherlock would be all deduce-y and warn the SI when he or she was getting close to being Sue-ish. He'd be more than willing to, because Sues are **_**terrifying**_**. Also, he hates the thought of someone being smarter than him.**

**Oh, if you want to see what I imagine the kimono thing to be like, check out this link:**

**www. polyvore cgi/ img-thing?.out=jpg&amp;size=l&amp;tid=64483912**

**Like all links on this website, just remove the spaces in your browser bar. ^^**

**Translations!**

**Por fin! - At last!**

**Qué extraño - How strange**

**Adiós - Goodbye**


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